Jun
30

Happy Weekend

by Sofia   -   in Random

Laukut on pakattu, lapset ovat jo muuttaneet saareen ja työpäivän jälkeen vihdoin mekin muutamme perässä. En malta odottaa! Töissä pitää “valitettavasti” käydä kääntymässä silloin tällöin heinäkuussakin, mutta paljon ihanaa aikaa landella on kuitenkin tiedossa. Super hyvää viikonloppua!

Hope you had a great week and an even better weekend is waiting for you! We are moving to the island for July so I could not be happier. We will both have to come to the city for work here and there but even just having our base on the island makes the whole month seem like one big holiday.

Lattemamma

Jun
28

If I could say…

by Sofia   -   in Good things for kids

… I think that reading with kids is super important. We are definitely no where near to being perfect parents but we have two things we try to stick to that are important for us. Family dinners together without any devises and reading bed time stories ( or daytime stories) for our kids. The latter falls very much on me because I absolutely love reading out loud but my husband reads too as we speak different languages to our kids ( me Finnish, him Swedish).

I´m not writing about this subject for the first time but it´s so close to my heart I wanted to write about it again. I love books, I loved books as a kid, as a teenager and I still do. These days I seem to read out loud more often to the kids than by myself but I still read many books a year. But my subject, reading for kids came to my mind again as my friend, a kindergarten teacher, had quoted a study on children´s development on social media ( unfortunately I don´t know what the study was or if it is accurate but it makes sense).

” The single biggest predictor of high academic achievement is reading to children. Not flash cards, not workbooks, not fancy preschools, not blinking toys or computers, but Mom and Dad taking the time every day or night ( or both!) to sit and read them wonderful books.” 

And Einstein said; ” If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairytales.”

Jun
26

Basil, feta & chicken pasta

by Sofia   -   in Cooking

Juhannuskin on jo juhlittu, mitä ihmettä?! Tämä kesähän menee vauhdilla eteenpäin. Enää muutama päivä kaupungissa ja sitten muutamme saareen asumaan. Töitä pitää tehdä vähä siellä täällä, mutta onneksi tiedossa on muutama kiva työreissu ja operoidaan sitten hommia sieltä saaresta. Lapset pääsevät muutamaa kaupunkipäivää lukuunottamatta viettämään saariston lasten elämää. Aika ihanaa! Tämä alla oleva resepti on muuten juuri sopiva vaikka mökkikeittiöön ja annoksen valmistamiseen ei mene montaa astiaa tai paljoa aikaakaan.

This recipe is from a Donna Hay book from years and years ago. I have ( well obviously) made some adjustments over the years but it is one of those super simple recipes anyone can make wherever ( even on a sailboat). If I remember correctly the original recipe has spaghetti, chicken, olive oil, feta cheese, basil & black pepper. You can add whatever to it but I have added lemon rind & juice ( I know I seem to add it to pretty much everything but it´s just so good with chicken) and some onion or scallions. Also sage is great added with the basil and fresh arugula just folded in at the end is a great addition.

Boil spagetti ( or pretty much whatever pasta you want) in salty water. On a frying pan sauté some onion and chicken fillets cut in to strips. Season with just a little salt ( as the feta is salty) and pepper. Fry a huge bunch of basil on a different pan until crunchy. Mix together pasta ( with a little boiling water), some great quality olive oil, the rind of a lemon and some lemon juice, the basil & the chicken. Crumble in a big chunk of feta cheese. Season for taste. At the end you can add some of that fresh arugula.